My Two Weeks With the Jihadists

Writing in the Atlantic, Graduate Program in Development trainee Michael Marcusa recounts living for two weeks with followers of the jihadist Salafist movement in Tunisia.

September 11, 2013

Tunisian Salafi Islamists wave flags inscribed with Islamic verses during a demonstration in support of the ruling Ennahada party in Tunis. (Anis Mili/Reuters)

"In a country where mainstream political parties offer at best, humble pleas for patience, or at worst, empty promises and hollow rhetoric, the jihadist Salafists are able to provide something very attractive to potential followers: a sense of community, and a sense of purpose in life."